Building having removable roof sections and crane therefor



Nov. 8, 1966 A. P. SCHNYDER 3,283,923

BUILDING HAVING REMOVABLE ROOF SECTIONS AND CRANE THEREFOR Filed July 15, 1964 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTOK AUXILIUS P. SCHNYDER BY M 4 5661M WMM,@MY(M ATTORNEYS United States Patent 3,283,923 BUILDING HAVING REMOVABLE ROOF SEC- TIONS AND CRANE THEREFOR Auxilius P. Schnyder, 146 Cherry Lane, Teaneck, NJ. Filed July 15, 1964, Ser. No. 382,740 1 Claim. (Cl. 21416) This invention relates to buildings, especially to factory buildings, and has for its object the provision of an improved building having removable roof sections. More particularly, the invention provides a combination of traveling crane and a building having a plurality of removable roof sections. The word building herein connotes any edifice or the like covering a space of land.

In its more complete and advantageous embodiment the invention provides a building having several similar roof sections which can be lifted by the crane from wall supports or the like and moved to a position at rest to facilitate installing or removing machinery or removing cumbersome goods, such as boats, airplanes, etc. In a preferred embodiment the combination of a building and a crane comprises an elongated building having several roof sections, one mounted next to another and supported, preferably on the side walls of the building, and a crane, preferably traveling on rails extending along the side walls and above the roof and a spanning traveling carriage on the rails which can lift the roof sections and carry them to an out-of-the-way place for temporary storage, whereby the crane can be used to bring in or remove equipment or machines, or bring in raw material or remove finished goods, through the open roof. The roof sections are preferably similar or identical so that they may be stacked, one over another. The sections are provided with attachment means for the engagement of lift means, such as cable of the crane, and may assume any desired shape, pitched, curved or fiat and may be insulated. The roof sections may be of light weight plastic or aluminum so that is case of an internal explo sion, such as frequently occurs in chemical plants, the roof can easily be blown off without destroying the building.

Instead of a preferred traveling crane which straddles the building, a crane having a boom traveling on rails on one side of the building may be used.

These and other novel features of the invention will be better understood after considering the following discussion and accompanying drawings in which FIG. 1 is a side elevation of a building and crane combination of the invention;

FIG. 2 is a sectional view at 22 of FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a fragmentary enlarged view taken at 33 of FIG. 2, and

FIG. 4 is a sectional view of a modification, taken at a position similar to that of FIG. 3.

The building and crane combination illustrated comprises side walls 1 and 2 and one end wall 3 it being understood that the building can be indefinite in length and have any desired opposite end. The walls and end may be constructed of any suitable material such as concrete and the upper or top edges 4 and 5 preferably incline inwardly to facilitate use of the crane and are formed of strong load-carrying material such as reinforced concrete. The side walls 1 or 2 may be solid or enclosed as shown or partly or wholly open. The uppermost edges 6 and 7 converge to points to serve as bearing and centering members for the roof sections S. Other centering means such as pins or bars may be used to receive and align the roof sections.

The building has a roof formed of several roof sections S which, as shown, are curved but may be fiat, peaked or sloped and may be of any rigid construction. The curved sections illustrated are formed of concrete 8 reinforced with T-bars 9 the tops of which are covered with roofing material such as sheet aluminum 10. The positions of the concrete 8 and roofing sheet 10 can be reversed with sheet 10 beneath serving to enclose a duct within the section. The side edges 12 and 13 of the roof sections are formed of concrete and are longitudinally rigid, as by the use of reinforcement steel and have V- shaped channels or bearing surfaces 14 and 15 which mate with the oppositely shaped top edges 6 and 7 of the side walls. Any desired number of vent holes V may be provided to bleed out moisture from the space inside the roof sections. Drain holes 20 may be formed in the side edges to carry away rain if the top surface 10 does not overhang the edges. Hook-shaped metal rods 16 and 17 are embedded in the edges and project outwardly to serve as lift members. Preferably two such members are used on each side of each section. The tops 18 and 19 of the side edges are preferably shaped similarly to the top edges 6 and 7 of the side walls so that the side edges of the roof sections nest together when they are stacked as shown in FIG. 1. The alternate sections may have extensions 22 and 23 to overlap the joints between adjacent sections to prevent leakage.

The crane is preferably of the traveling type comprising a carriage C having two wheels 25 and 26 on one side and two wheels 27 and 28 on the opposite side which travel on rail beams 30 and 31 extending along each side of the building. The rail beams are mounted on steel posts P a sufficient distance above the roof that the crane can lift the sections and carry them to a place where they can be stacked as shown in FIG. 1 and so there is suflicient space for the installation or removal of machinery. The posts may be extended from and be a part of the side walls as shown or they may be arranged alongside of the building side walls. The important feature is the provision of a crane which can pick up the roof sections and carry them to an out-of-the-way place to open any desired part of the building for access by the crane. The crane is propelled by the motor 32 which drives the wheels by means not shown. Other motors not shown drive the sprocket wheels 33 and 34 on one side and sprocket wheels 35 and 36 on the opposite side to raise or lower the chains S having hooks H which can be attached to the lift members 16 and 17 when it is desired to pick up a roof section and move it to another position. This crane can also have the heavy duty lifting cables which are commonly used with such cranes.

FIG. 4 illustrates a modification of roof section having side edges 40 formed of metal such as sheet aluminum shaped for centering on the top edges 41 of the building. The main part of the roof section is formed of a honeycomb plastic construction 42 having a multiplicity of cells 43 which are secured to an under metal sheet 44 which is attached to the edge 40. The top plastic sheet 45 leads to drain holes 46 in the edge for carrying away the water. Hook 47 is secured to the side edges 40 for connection to the hooks of the crane. This roof section is made as light as possible for use in buildings where explosions may take place whereby the sections will be lifted or blown away to remove pressure on the side walls. Such roof sections also provide effective thermal insulation.

References Cited by the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS I claim: The combination of a building covering a space of land and a traveling crane which comprises a roof for the building having a plurality of removable sections resting 1,701,965 2/1929 on their edges on Wall portions of the building and having 5 1,857,386 5/ 1932 stalredge portions for supporting one section on another, a 2,575,565 11/1951 Schwalbe 214- 16 X crane mounted in operative connection to the building having lift means above the roof, means on each section GERALD FORLENZA, Primary Examinerof the roof for attachment to the crane, and means to ROBERT SHERIDAN Examineh move the crane to carry the removable sections from 10 their positions on the roof to a position of rest. 

